On The Wall

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I'd decided to check out Suzanne Vega when her current tour made it to Manchester, hence finding myself at the Hard Rock cafe last Friday.

It being my first time at the venue, I couldn't help but chuckle at the Oasis lyrics painted on the balcony. Little bit sad that somebody thought that Wonderwall somehow symbolised all that's good about Manchester music.

Such is my insistence on getting anywhere for the time displayed on the ticket, a stupid habit I know, but I'm always worried of missing something, that it meant standing around for the best part of an hour or so when we could have been over the road at Sinclair's enjoying cheapo pints of Samuel Smith's Best Bitter. Getting there early did mean seeing the support act, a local called Sarah Dixon, who has apparently only been playing guitar for a year. She showed off some impressive finger-picking techniques and vocal skills, but perhaps could do with a songwriting partner to hone down lyrical ideas that often drift into cliche.

Following an auction of stuff signed by the main act (this being a gig in support of a breast cancer research charity), on came the woman herself. When I saw her back in 1997, she was armed with a full band - this time it was just her and a guitarist armed with a selection of effects units. Setting the tone for the night with Marlene On The Wall, the room got just about all the most well-known numbers from Ms Vega's back catalogue. Perhaps two reasons for this: first of all, it was a charity gig, so it's natural to stick to the classics. Secondly, she's recently put out two albums of acoustic re-recordings of older songs, so it makes sense to play them in such a style here.

To my recollection, we got songs from all albums bar Days of Open Hand, with half of Solitude Standing getting an airing, presumably it's her best seller over here. Having the best part of 30 years doing this singer/songwriter lark behind her, Vega's a pro at the between song banter game, telling us that Gypsy was inspired by a boyfriend from Liverpool she met while teaching folk singing and disco dancing (!) at a summer camp in the late 1970s.

One lark, preceding a song about her hometown of New York, sees Vega asking the audience what kind of person their own home would be. Manchester, it would see, is a miserable old man...

Two things spring to mind throughout the night, those being that Suzanne Vega is a fantastic songwriter and that she's an equally talented guitarist. On this instance, her backing fellow had a few tricks of his own, using loop, delay and other effects to very good effect. On Tom's Diner, he managed to create a rhythm track of sorts that put it more on the footing of the DNA remix than the acapella original. By the end of the night, I was insanely jealous of Suzanne Vega for having such a guy to play music with, when I could do with somebody like that myself.

An entertaining night, then, despite the venue not being to my liking all that much. To round it off, I found out that the Comsat Angels are playing more shows after their top gigs from last year. Superb!